Clemente, Javier

Javier Clemente began his career at Athletic Bilbao , for which he played from 1968 to 1974, having played 47 matches and scored 6 goals. In 1969, Clemente won the Generalissimo Cup with the club. Clemente's career ended due to a serious injury. But Clemente did not leave the sport and became a coach, his first clubs were Arenas , Basque Country and the second team of Athletics.

In 1981, Clemente led the first Athletics team, starting one of the most successful eras in club history. In 1983, the club won the national championship and the Spanish Cup. After that, César Luis Menotti , the Barcelona coach, very unflatteringly expressed himself in the press about Clement, calling his methods of work authoritarian, and the team playing strictly defensive football, which Clement called Menotti “aging hippies” and “womanizer”. The rivalry also appeared on the football field, for example, Athletics defender Andoni Goikoechea inflicted a very serious injury with a blow from behind on the legs of Diego Maradone , who was hunted by the entire Athletics team, for which he received the nickname “The Butcher from Bilbao”, and on July 5, 1984, the game The team ended in a massive brawl.

After leaving Athletics, Clemente became the head coach of the Espanyol club, with whom he achieved 3rd place in the championship, and even brought the club to the UEFA Cup final , defeating AC Milan on the way, but in the final the clubs won home matches 3-0, and on a penalty was the rival of “Hispaniola” - “ Bayer ”. Then Clemente worked with Atletico Madrid , leading the club to the silver of the championship, then again with Athletic, and then with Espanyol.

In 1992, Clemente led the Spanish national team . He coached the team at two world championships and the European championship, working with the team for 62 matches (36 wins, 26 draws and 6 losses), from September 9, 1992 (victory over England 1: 0) to September 5, 1998 (defeat from Cyprus 2: 3), which includes a win-win series for 31 games. Nevertheless, Clemente did not achieve significant success with the team, but he was often criticized for his love of the Basque players and for not inviting the captain of Barcelona Pep Guardiola to the national team.

Then Clemente was coached by the Real Betis club, where his work was accompanied by scandals for spitting on a fan of the team, and in an interview he said that Andalusia is “another country”. Then he coached Real Sociedad , the French Olympic Marseille , Tenerife , Hispaniol, Athletic Bilbao, from whom he was fired after criticizing the club’s transfer policy, despite being able to save the team from relegation, and Real Murcia . "

On July 21, 2006, Clemente was appointed head coach of the Serbian national team , with a salary of 30 thousand euros per month (the lowest salary for Clemente in the previous 20 years), debuting on August 16 with a 3: 1 victory over the Czech national team. After the team did not qualify for the European Championship, Clemente was dismissed on December 6, 2007.

August 17, 2010 was appointed head coach of the Cameroon national team . The contract is signed for 2 years ^[1] . On October 25, 2011, he was dismissed from his post; Cameroon Football Federation leadership said: “Cameroon needs a specialist who is a charismatic leader. We don’t need a coach who can use the players who have already played with him, or players who are friends of high-ranking officials ” ^[2] .

As a player

• Spanish Cup Winner : 1969

As a trainer

• Champion of Spain : 1983, 1984
• Spanish Cup Winner : 1984
• Super Bowl Spain : 1984

• Profile on sportec.es
• Article on marca.com